Crossing the Rubicon

It is interesting that John Pilger in a New Matilda piece is far more scathing about Hillary Clinton than Trump.  Trump, he argues, is a ‘maverick’, who, at least does not hate Russia and who condemns the American war in Iraq in 2003.  He is not part of the Establishment.

Ironically Bill Clinton was taught by Carroll Quigley who argued that there was an Anglo-American establishment who pulled the strings in the modern world.  Now Hillary is associated by many with that establishment.

Even if Trump is elected, it will undoubtedly be the case that he will not be able to fulfil the expectations which his supporters have placed in him, at least in a material sense.  What he might be able to do is to activate self-belief.  His importance, for his supporters, is symbolic. 

The same may be said regarding the recent Brexit vote in the United Kingdom.  It was a symbolic renunciation of the failures of the British political class.  But the real question is whether there is a leader in the United Kingdom who is willing to do the heavy lifting and act as a sort of Caesar to bring the decision made by the British people to fruition.  If someone does not step up, then institutional inertia, masses of regulation, the sort of thing on which Brussels thrives, may thwart the will of the British people.

The question may well be asked: why has an Australian equivalent of Trump not emerged as it faces similar problems to America?  In Australia there would appear to be a loss of faith in the capacity of the political class to do anything except look after itself.

In a sense, Australia has had its Trump in the shape of Clive Palmer who both peaked too early and failed to inspire in his Caesarist role.  His legacy has been to leave behind a series of ’mini-mes’ in the shape of Jacqui Lambie and Glenn Lazarus.  The only problem is that such individuals lack both the celebrity status and the money required to aspire to being Caesar.

Caesar, of course, won power, and instituted many reforms, including a new calendar.  But he could never win over the political class who eventually decided that he had to go, as happened on the Ides of March.  It was left to his young heir, Octavian, to devise means of changing the political system while also placating, and eventually neutering, the political class.

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